HIV resistance: genetic dominance of white people. DNA reveals 9,000-year-old HIV resistance gene from around the Black Sea. A recent study published last year in the journal Cell has revealed the ancient origin of the genetic mutation that confers HIV resistance, and how it first appeared in a person who lived near the Black Sea between 6,700 and 9,000 years ago. The unusual genetic variant, called CCR5 delta 32, blocks a key immune protein used by the vast majority of HIV strains to enter human cells, and thus "blocks" the virus in people who carry two copies of the mutation.